Criminy, there’s a lot going on tonight, including an open mic; two poets on power, sexuality and mortality; a book about adopting a child from another country; and a book about two women in conversation that was originally inspired by a painting.

At the Ballard Branch of the SPL, Dan White reads from The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind and Almost Found Myself on the Pacific Crest Trail. There are bears in the book. Otherwise, it looks like another one of those books about someone who does something outdoorsy and possibly stupid and barely lives to tell the tale.

David Guterson, who I wish answered to the nickname The Goot, reads from his new novel, The Other, at Barnes and Noble in University Village. I do not know anyone who’s read the book as of yet, so I can’t tell you if it’s good or bad. I can tell you, however, that Guterson is local and will read at virtually every venue in the next few days, so you don’t need to go to University Village tonight if you want to see him.

Up at Third Place, Lee Child reads from Nothing to Lose, which is about “two lonely towns in Colorado: Hope and Despair.” I think that might be what the kids call ‘symbolism.’

Thomas J. Campanella, who is the “associate professor of urban planning at the University of North Carolina” discusses The Concrete Dragon: China’s Urban Revolution and What It Means for the World at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. Expect wonk, but expect very important wonk.

And at Elliott Bay Book Company, Tony Horwitz, the author of that Confederates in the Attic book that was all the rage (and for good reason) a while back, reads from A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World. Booklist says that his new one is “what could be described as a guide for those who are historically ignorant of the “lost century” between the first voyage of Columbus and the establishment of Jamestown in 1607.” I think this looks like the reading of the night.

Or, if Artwalk-style whimsy is your thing, over at Arundel Books on 1st Ave, which is a nice bookstore for bargain hunters of art books that I don’t get to write about too often, Michael C. Ford will conduct the world’s shortest poetry reading promptly at 7 pm. I am told that if you are even one minute late, or if you in fact blink at the wrong time, you will miss the poetry. If you want to make a night of it, you can attend this reading and then still have time to get to the Horwitz reading down the street.

Upcoming readings, including a couple with The Goot, are on our readings calendar.